Wednesday, March 13, 2002

The Commission has approved a Finnish scheme providing a subsidy to passenger vessels. This permits a 97% reduction of withholding tax on the marine work income of European seafarers working on board Finnish passenger vessels. This allows Finland to align with similar measure in neighbouring countries.

The EU Commission has approved an UK Scheme which compensates airlines for the costs incurred 11-15th September after the attacks in New York and Washington. Those are for costs occured as a result of flights cancelled or delayed by national authorities. The scheme applies to all UK airlines and is expected to cost £45m ($72m). A similar French scheme was approved in January.

Loyola de Palacio, the EU Transport Commissioner, has put forward proposals to the Commission to hit state-aided airlines flying into the EU with penalties, including duties and landing right restrictions. Although it is stressed that this is not aimed at a particular country, it is viewed by some observers as retaliation against the USA, which provided $15bn in aid to carriers following September 11th. There have been complaints by EU airlines that this has been used as a means of unfair competition.

The Huffman international Flying School, where two of the September 11th hyjackers trained, have just received letters from the INS (US Immigration Dept.) that their visa applications have been approved. The INS said that the original approval had been granted on 17 July and that the school had been notified in the summer. These letters were merely a "backup notification". They blamed a backlog of paperwork at their processing centre in Kentucky for the delay. The papers relate to Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi. Atta is believed to have been the ring-leader of the group. He, along with three others, seized American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston-Los Angeles and flew it into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Al-Shehhi is believed to have piloted United Airlines Flight 75, also from Boston-Los Angeles, into the South Tower 17 minutes later.

Work has begun on the demolition of the Intourist Hotel, one of Moscow's most famous landmarks. It was erected in 1970 to cater for foreign tourists. It was notorious for its Cold War standards, with surly staff, buged hotel rooms and illegal money changers. It was also the setting for many spy novels. The hotel is no longer needed as there is a plethora of western style hotels in the city. The hotel will be mourned by few as it was a large concrete and glass monstrosity.

Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan man found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing, has lost his appeal against conviction. The High Court of Justiciary jailed him for life in January 2001 for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988. 270 people were killed, including all those on board and others in the small Scottish border town.

Mike Watson, the Tourism Minister, has unveiled "The Tourism Framework for Action" in Oban, which aims to make Scotland a world-class tourism destination. The document is the outcome of a 5-month consultation excercise following the decline in tourist arrivals. Scotland lost £500m ($800m) last year, exacerbated by the aftermath of September 11th. Tourism employs 193,000 people in Scotland.

Lufthansa has suffered a pre-tax loss of 745m euros ($660m). Its operating profits plummeted from 1bn euros to 20m euros. It has announced that it will not be paying shareholders a dividend. The results follow the aftermath of September 11th, the economic downturn and a series of pilot strikes.